Across a wide range of democratic regimes—both highly institutionalized and less consolidated—political representation is increasingly under strain. Citizens frequently express dissatisfaction not only with substantive policy outcomes but also with the procedures through which decisions are made, including where authority is located, which actors are empowered to decide, and the extent to which citizens’ preferences are reflected in political outcomes. At the same time, political elites operate under mounting institutional, economic, and normative constraints, amid a marked erosion of public trust. These dynamics raise fundamental questions about the contemporary functioning of representative democracy and about the extent, forms, and effectiveness of the mechanisms through which democratic mediation continues to take place.
This panel brings together contributions that examine representation as a relational and multidimensional process, with particular attention to interactions between citizens and political elites. Potential papers may explore how citizens understand and evaluate representation, how elites conceive of and justify their representative roles, and how institutional arrangements shape these relationships.
The panel adopts a broad, methodologically pluralist perspective and explicitly welcomes contributions beyond exclusively quantitative approaches. We particularly encourage comparative and mixed-methods research drawing on survey data, elite interviews, experimental designs, qualitative evidence, and observational data from European democracies. Submissions may address, among other topics, representation gaps, democratic responsiveness, political trust and legitimacy, tensions between technocratic and partisan forms of mediation, and citizens’ and elites’ satisfaction with and support for democratic governance. Particular emphasis is placed on research that systematically integrates citizen- and elite-level perspectives. Overall, the panel seeks to advance a more fine-grained understanding of contemporary representative democracy and to identify the conditions under which democratic mediation is strengthened or eroded.